Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Should Europe Grant Snowden Asylum?

Edward
Snowden’s revelations about the United States‘ extensive espionage programme
have caused shock and irritation throughout Europe. Not only were billions of
European text messages, phone calls and emails tapped systematically by the
American secret service, but bugs were installed in the European diplomatic
representations in Washington and New York. The question of whether or not the
role of the EU in foreign policy ought to be taken seriously or not, has been
answered.

Edward Snowden

Snowden’s
whistleblowing has caused an eruption of arguments about granting him asylum in
the European Union. Supposedly, one must not allow the Russians to
instrumentalise the scandal for their own benefit, missing an opportunity to
award someone who has done a great service to Europe. Offering Snowden asylum
would furthermore cause a problematic situation for Russia, which would find it
difficult to justify keeping him in Russia much longer. Nevertheless, I think
granting Snowden ‘asylum’ would be a fundamentally misled move for Europe, and
here’s why:

First
of all, Europe would clearly employ double-standards if it was to grant Snowden
shelter. Would we care about the case at all, if Snowden revealed that the NSA
is spying on China? We might actually be grateful about the additional
intelligence. The only reason why the case is of concern to us is because it
affects Europe. If principles rather than double-standards where employed, all
persons wanted by the Americans for treason are potential asylum applicants in
Europe.

Secondly,
I am somewhat annoyed by the media’s use of the word ‘asylum’. The Geneva
Convention on Asylum defines a refugee in the following manner:

“A person who owing to a
well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is
outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is
unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not
having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual
residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is
unwilling to return to it.”

The
United States is a democratic country, with one of the longest democratic
traditions and one of the best constitutions in the world. No group is
systematically persecuted, and the US is certainly no totalitarian state.
Edward Snowdon voluntarily worked for an agency whose job it is to keep
secrets. He knew that if he accepts this job, breaching the terms of his
contract may be considered treason. This is not unique to the US, but it is the
case in pretty much all states. Snowdon does not suffer from persecution, and
granting him asylum would not only go against the Geneva Convention on the
matter, but it would be an insult to all those refugees who come to Europe in a
serious need for protection.

Nevertheless,
the relationship between the EU and the US needs to be reconsidered. While the
cultural, economic and geostrategic ties between the two regions are undeniable,
there are limits to the strains that can be put on the alliance. The European Commission
is currently in the process of negotiating the transatlantic free-trade
agreement, which would create the largest FTA in the world. While this FTA
clearly serves the purpose of entrenching the hegemonic position of Europe and
America in the global political economy, both Europe and America may nevertheless benefit from
it immensely. Pressure ought to be put on the US by putting these negotiations
on halt until Obama has issued a public statement clarifying the accusations.
The US needs to apologise to its closest ally, and an agreement between Europe and
America preventing hidden mutual surveillance is needed.

I
personally don’t like Snowden very much. He betrays his country, publishes
secret information in the name of transparency, goes to semi-authoritarian Russia,
and then allows the Russian government to instrumentalise the scandal for its
own benefit (anyone else think of Depardieu?). Granting him asylum in Europe
ought to be out of the question.